Watering Hole

Watering Hole

Another
nineteen years later.

Ron Weasley, now 56, stood patiently
in the saloon of The Leaky Cauldron, waiting for his opponent. He checked the tip of his weapon of choice
with his finger; good and sharp. He eyed
the door with the air of a man who had all day, because he did for this. He always had time for this.

He reached over to the bar and
picked up his pint of ale. Gone were the
days when butterbeer was his drink, and as Ron looked down at the generous
paunch residing in his midsection, he reflected on his penchant for real ale. Hermione and the children sometimes said that
he was getting fat, but Ron merely shrugged this thought off and took another
gulp.

‘You sure he’s coming, Ron?’ asked a
nearby patron.

‘He’s coming,’ replied Ron, sagely,
as he wiped the ale’s foam from his greying ginger moustache. ‘He knows better than to skip out on this.’

‘He’ll be here,’ said Ron. He smiled to himself as he thought about all
of his work that he’d left behind that day to come down to the Leaky
Cauldron. It could wait. It would
wait.

This was important.

Ron drained the last of his drink
and set the tankard back down on the bar.
As he turned back round to face the door to the saloon he could see
through the frosted glass a figure approaching.
Ron grinned to himself. He
recognised it immediately.

Let battle commence, he thought.

The door was opened by a small,
nervous-looking man who was fussing over another, more calm-looking
person. All heads turned as the pair
entered the saloon; and a few of the newer guests to the Leaky Cauldron stood
rooted to the spot, their mouths agape.

‘By me! It’s the Minister for Magic!’

‘Alright, alright. Stand back, all of you,’ cried the smaller
man, as he swept the room with a suspicious glare. ‘This is official Ministry business.’

‘Oh do stop it, Creevey,’ said the
Minister. ‘I’ve told you a hundred times
that I’m off duty.’

‘Watch me.’ The Minister unbuckled his cloak and handed
it to Creevey, who took it as if it were the Holy Grail. The Minister then walked straight up to Ron
Weasley and shook him vigorously by the hand.

‘Afternoon, Ron,’ he said, cheerily.

‘Alright, Harry?’ said Ron,
smiling. ‘The usual?’

‘Don’t mind if I do.’

Harry Potter, Minister for Magic,
eased himself on to a bar stool and let out a contented sigh. He looked around the saloon and saw the
people looking at him. He didn’t mind. Not really.
It used to bother him, when he was a lad, but then again, he thought
dryly to himself, what didn’t bother me back then? He knew that some of the assembled drinkers
would be staring at him because he was Minister for Magic, but he also knew
that some of them, the older ones, would be staring at him because of the other
thing.

‘Here you go, mate,’ said Ron,
handing Harry a frothy pint of ale.

‘Mate?’ spat Creevey in
disbelief. ‘Mate? You don’t refer to the
Minister for Magic as “mate”!’

Harry and Ron exchanged a significant
look. Ron rolled his eyes and Harry
sighed and turned to his assistant.

‘Thank you, Creevey, you’re
dismissed.’

‘But sir!’

‘Take the afternoon off. Go and visit your Dad or something. Tell him I said hi.’

‘But…’

‘Creevey.’ Harry’s tone had a definite air of finality
about it. He didn’t really like bossing
people around, but he had to live with it a little bit. Being Minister for Magic meant that people
expected you to be bossy. He’d held out
against the job for as long as he could, which made him think of Dumbledore and
how he’d managed to avoid the position, but there just came a time when there
really wasn’t anyone better for the job, so Harry took it. He’d experienced firsthand what a mess the wrong
person in the wrong job could do, so he reluctantly agreed.

Ginny had been delighted, of
course. Not because she’d had any
particular desires about being a politician’s wife (she hated it, as a matter
of fact), but his appointment to the post of Minister had gotten him out of the
Auror Office. Even with the downfall of
Lord Voldemort all those years ago – Harry marvelled briefly at the fact that
it was nearly forty years since the Battle
for Hogwarts – dark magic still existed in the world, as did those who wanted
to use it and profit by it. Fortunately,
no one had ever tried to rise to Voldemort-like power, but being an Auror was
still a dangerous job. So Ginny was
definitely pleased when he told her that he’d no longer be spending his nights
staking out dark wizarding hot-spots.

Creevey stood still for a moment,
looking like a lost lamb in a den of wolves.
He swallowed and fretted internally over the litany of things that could
go awry by leaving the Minister alone in such a place. However, Creevey would rather jump in front
of the Hogwarts Express than defy his employer.
He let out a forlorn sigh, hung Harry’s cloak on a nearby hook with
overt reverence, and reluctantly left the pub.

‘I don’t know how you stand it,’
said Ron, eyeing the door that Creevey had left by. ‘It’d drive me mad having him scampering
around me all day like that.’

Harry and Ron laughed. It felt good to remember the old days. Some of them, at least. Both Harry and Ron had memories that they
clung to out of respect but wished weren’t real, but practically every magical
citizen of their age was the same. The
peace and freedom that the wizarding world had enjoyed for the last few decades
had not come cheap. Ron thought of his
late brother Fred. Harry thought of
Dobby, of Snape, of Dumbledore. All gone
in the name of the fight. All heroes in
their way.

A moment’s silence seemed to stretch
out before them, and as they caught eyes, they both shook themselves free of
their reverie.

‘So, anyway. How’s Ginny?’ asked Ron. ‘Don’t see her much these days, shame to say,
what with work and all that.’

‘Oh she’s fine. She sends her love, of course. And Hermione?
How’s she doing?’

‘Correcting me every chance she
gets, as always,’ said Ron, grinning.
Harry smiled warmly at this. Keep
your Gringott’s vaults stuffed with gold, he thought. Hang the fame and the legacy. This was what made life worth living:
discussing the people you loved most in the world with your best friend. There truly was no greater magic.

‘Some things never change, eh?’ said
Harry, still smiling. They both took
from their drinks again, enjoying the simple pleasure of one another’s company.

‘Right,’ said Ron, putting his empty
tankard down on the bar with authority.
‘You ready to get beaten again?’

‘Hah! That last time was a fluke!’

‘You wish, four-eyes.’

‘Bring it on, ging.’

Both men laughed heartily, Harry
slapping Ron on the back as if they were both eleven again. Creevey would have had a heart attack if he’d
heard Ron call the Minister for Magic “four-eyes”, but Harry loved it. In here, in this cosy little pub with his
oldest and dearest friend, he wasn’t Harry Potter, Minister for Magic. He wasn’t even Harry Potter, the Boy who
Lived. He was just Harry.

Just Harry.

‘Wands away,’ said Ron, with mock
pomp and circumstance.

‘Let battle commence,’ said Harry
with a grin.

Ron drew back and threw his first in
their latest game of darts. He’d never
heard of the Muggle game before they were clearing out his late father’s shed
not long after his passing. It had been
sitting on a shelf with the darts poking out of it at various angles, looking
curious and inviting. Harry had
explained that darts was a common Muggle pub game and that was it. This now became their thing, something that
Harry and Ron did together. Away from
the pressures of work, away from the despairing looks from both of their
wives. Once a month they met, played
darts, drank too much ale and laughed together like silly schoolboys.

There truly was no greater magic.

- December 2014

Write a Review
Did you enjoy my story? Please let me know what you think by leaving a review! Thanks,
Richard Kirk

FreakyPoet:
I found this story well written and extremely cute. I like how the emotional roller coaster, otherwise know as love, was done here. it was very believable that these two characters would deny, agonize, then come to except their feelings the way that they did. I enjoyed it very much, thank you ...

Julia Summers PA:
Reading this now. It's fun, hilariously fabulous yet taste of what you desire in a unusual read. I will post an actual review when I am finished. But so far loving the flow and the story seems to keep me drawn

Lacey Schmidt:
The Trouble with Super is that you can't stop reading it. Mr. Barrett's characters are all to easy to relate to even if you don't have a super quirk of your own, and their plight is both heart-rendingly funny and heart-warmingly sad at the same time. It's a bit like Office Space meets the Matri...

ank1983:
I really enjoyed this story and I read through it quickly. I found it very entertaining and some of your scenes were very well written and descriptive. Every time a chapter ended I couldn't wait to start the next chapter. What girl hasn't fantasized over a cute teacher at school?! The story did...

Sinhala-Kella (aka Scandal Mania):
Hey Fazio, I LOVED your story! The bus - I don't watch Grey's but that was vividly shocking! And the last paragraph where you said April was engaged to one man but rushed in to save another. It was sooo cute the way Jackson won April back - there were so many lovely bits - 'Shonda' (LOL!).You nee...

ianwatson:
The comedy is original and genuinely funny, I have laughed out loud many times reading this book. But the story and the plot are also really engaging. The opening two or three chapters seem quite character-dense but they all soon come to life and there is no padding, filling or wasted time readin...

Alex Rushmer:
I just want to say that the writing in this is amazing! I read the first couple chapters and was absolutely drawn in by it, The way you use first person in this story is extremely engaging and does wonders with your character development. I immediately had a picture of the characters and plotline...

sibyleisley:
Right away, I was charmed by the characters in Nothing Between Us. Bella is fun to follow and SO easy to relate to, and Jace is the guy that you could spend 24/7 with and not get sick of him. And together, they're adorable and so right for each other. The writer did such a great job making me car...

Rebeccaseal:
This was an almost perfect story that I would recommend to anyone. The only thing I would work on is painting a more realistic picture of Haiathiel. Somehow the environment seemed limited, and the land itself a bit unfinished. This can be solved simply by added descriptions to people and places. ...

Jaslyn:
I loved reading this so much!! The transformation of Nina's self-esteem was incredible to read, and while I was rooting for Parker halfway through, I was very satisfied when Harrison and Nina finally got everything straight. The side characters were adorable - I especially loved Anna, Richel, Mic...